When we dream the same
by s4nzy
Summary: Haley can't sleep, while Elijah is experiencing the same. Lust for a midnight snack will lead to something that she could only dream about in her sleep, and he with his eyes open. Set in AU, after 1x6, where the only difference is that Hayley hasn't gone missing. Haylijah fluff possibly heading for more.
1. Chapter 1

Hi, Haylijah fans! Nice to meet you!

Disclaimers: I don't own The Originals, the characters, or any other thing but the plot.

A/N:

This fic ccurred to me while I had a break from school thanks to a cold, and watched the wonderful, haylijah-ful episode 1x6. It doesn't contain any spoilers for 1x7, and is sort of more concentrated on Elijah's inner conflict with his growing emotions for her, and a little bit less Hayley's. She's a bit not herself, you'll see why. But she definitely handles it better than Elijah. This might as well develop into a bigger thing, or (see down there to the other A/N. I'm so not spoiling my own story!)

I broke it into two chapters so as not to be too long. I will upload the other one quickly, because it's already written. :)

R&R

Anyways, enjoy!

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She didn't want to open her eyes. There wasn't any chance that things could get better if she would come any closer to consciousness. This dream –no; stupid fantasy her own subconscious delivered her was pure torture. And inappropriate, in so many ways!

She even felt a bit hot now!

She could find in fact, a dozen of reasons why it would be harder to try to fall back asleep. So she just shifted to her right side, away from the dim light that was coming through the window, and therefore her closed lids.

Though, the lack of contact with the heated mattress underneath her almost bare back made her shiver, and pull the sheet tighter around her body. _It's not working,_ she thought, forcing her legs to her chest, trying to shake that coldness off her muscles. Now she could only regret moving this much, as the apparent cold air in the room began to mix with the little heat that was left between the wet sheets and her body.

_Great._

Eventually, the facts floating inside her clouded head connected into a plausible and quite reasonable explanation for all this. She was sweating, feeling cold; and above all, she couldn't shake that funny feeling off her closed eyes and go back to sleep –sleep she was yearning for in her very bones! T_his baby is somehow going to be the death to me._ She could understand, or she could try at least, to accept that her body was changing little by little so as the wolf in there could grow as healthily as possible. But doing this to her, this fever, at apparently two in the morning –as her eyes finally shot open directly on the green display of the digital clock beside her nightstand; was in Hayley's opinion a little bit too much.

She really needed to rest; yet there she was now, sitting up with the sticky sheet around her shoulders, her mind wondering whether she could, by any chance find chocolate in the fridge downstairs.

_Chocolate. Really. That's what you woke me up for?_ Despite her growing annoyance, the sweet and for some reasons warm, taste of some pieces of chocolate on her tongue was enough to trigger a plan in her mind. In fact, there wasn't anything she could do. Go with the flow, she usually said, this one not being the first time the baby girl decided to come in command of her stomach. And even if she would have tried to ignore it, what else was there to do? She could feel with her stiff hands her own sweat, drenched with everything underneath her.

_Fine. You win, but after this, could you PLEASE let me go back to sleep?_ Maybe she could find herself some pills for the fever and the apparently growing headache. Without hesitating, she forced her body off the bed, not bothering to take the sheet off her shoulders.

The wood beneath her bare foot was colder than she expected. It almost made her want to forget everything and find a way to warm herself up. She did take a minute, however, to find at least some thick socks and change her top. Catching a cold now, should really not be another reason to make her life even more miserable.

Then she was in the hall, silently clicking the door close behind her, before turning to the long corridor, decorated with closed door on either side. Her steps were silent, she barely heard herself breathing as she made her way to the big staircase in front of her. The last thing she wanted to do is embarrass herself in front of one of them. She didn't even allow herself to imagine what she would say if one of them were to find her now, on her hunt for chocolate, at two o'clock in the morning, with fever.

Maybe they'd laugh and ignore it, blaming the fever.

Without a reason, it occurred to her whether they were sleeping at all. She couldn't hear anything from the doors, neither now, nor any other time. This wasn't the first night she couldn't sleep. But it was starting to happen a little bit too often, which she didn't know if to consider normal or not.

Before she could make her third step down the mahogany treads in front of her, a sudden change in the air made her gasp. Her hand gripped the railing, and somehow she managed to keep her body upright until the burning colours that burst inside her eyes and skull, slowly faded away. When she finally opened her eyes again, she winced and decided to make the rest of the journey down the stairs as careful as possible.

The second her foot hit the hard floor, something was different. In fact, it's been different for a while, if she were to give it a thought. She wasn't cold anymore. Ironically, she was starting to feel a little too hot and the dizziness that occurred to her on the stairs was back, washing over her in small regular waves.

Maybe, before that chocolate she will find these pills she had thought about. And a big glass of cold water; yes, that was a plan. But before making any further steps, she took of that sheet on her back and left it on newel post. She just couldn't bare that heat and weight on her now. She'd figure it out later.

She was walking more careful now, supporting her weight with every occasion. Until she became aware of the amount of heat her body was oozing, everything seemed fine. Only now it was worse than walking with her eyes closed through a minefield. And even if there weren't any of these deadly traps, getting another wave like that would have the same effect as stepping on a mine would.

When she finally managed to find the kitchen, her fingers danced across the darkened wall until she found the light switch. All of a sudden, the whole room was brought to life, the bulbs on the ceiling zumming with energy. But it only made her groan. This wasn't helping the pain in her skull, and now there was nothing that could make her eyes behave normally. They simply refused to open.

Making her way to the fridge was easy, opening it just the same. Finally, she was spotting it. Right there in front of her, laid an open tablet of chocolate, with just two or three pieces missing. _Bingo!_ On that moment, nothing else mattered. There she was, removing her prey, thinking of the various ways she could savour it. She was so mesmerized she forgot about her throbbing head and her state.

Her mind still linked to the piece of heaven in front of her, she barely registered half turning away from the fridge, and kicking the door close.

Suddenly she could see a pair of eyes watching her and she almost jumped out of her skin. "Hayley," She was going backwards maybe even falling, surpassing the scream built in her throat.

Maybe she moved too fast, maybe lost her balance when she slammed the fridge door shut, but her eyes were shut close and her heart was pumping. Then a pair of cold arms slid around her heated body, and she wasn't falling anymore; nor wanting screaming.

These eyes were confused, but they weren't blue, and this was the only thing keeping her together now. She knew who it was, who else would be here now?

"I thought I asked you before not to scare me like that anymore, Elijah."

He placed her back down, but her feet didn't seem to be able to hold her up just yet, and he sensed that too. She stared into his eyes, and waited for an answer, but he was too taken aback, while maneuvering her to the tall chairs, first.

_Is there anything I don't miss when it comes to him?_

Before he helped her onto the chair, he allowed himself a second to study her face closely, just for a second. "Hayley, you don't look too good. What are you doing here, now?" That weary calm, it was even now in his voice, and she was quite surprised she noticed in this state she was in.

Oh, but he was right. Only then she remembered the dizziness, and all of a sudden her head felt like a black hole imploding. Her head rolled onto his shoulder, taking pleasure in the small comfort his cold skin brought to state she was in.

"Hayley, please answer me." But she groaned, searching in her pulsing brain for an explanation.

Hand to her head, forehead creased with the pain throbbing everywhere. "I was...looking for a snack. You know; at midnight, because I really needed one...like now, at midnight..." God, she was sure nothing made sense, and she was also sure she was destroying any chance from now on to be able to stay in front of him like before, now that she killed her dignity.

Her eyes were closed, and burning altogether with the dizziness that was making its way up her throat. She felt his hand gripping her forearm and fought hard not to express the pleasure that erupted with it.

"It is way past midnight," she heard him saying with a chuckle treating to break his control, " And chocolate is hardly a snack,"

_Always so classy._

"You're burning up..." she heard him next, that happiness in his voice turning in sheer worry.

He said more to himself, if he said it out loud. At first he thought he just imagined it. He was blaming the fact that he just woke up, or what he imposed himself to believe, and not that he actually took the chance to spy on her, when she would normally suppose he was asleep. This put together with that tiny amount of clumsiness he had clouding his mind whenever he was around her, or at least since, she had finally been freed from the witch...He couldn't let his mind wonder anymore now. _Focus!_

Now she was on the chair, leaning hard on the island's top with her arms.

"Here, this could probably help for now," he murmured, handing her a glass of water he didn't really remembered filling.

It was cold, and it did help her. Geez, it calmed the burning inside from the moment she took it from his hands, emptying it then from one slip. She's opened her eyes for a while now, and when she next spotted her long waited prey, right there on the table next to her, she didn't hold back.

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A/N: So here is it. The fluffiest fluff is meant for the other half, though, hence it's a bit cliffie. Sorry about that!

Care to tell me what you think?


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Hello again!

I want to thank you all for the reviews, faving and following. Each one of it made my heart grew too big to sit my chest. I hope I didn't make you wait too long, but I firstly wanted to have another chapter written in advance. I can only hope that this fluffness I prepared for you will be enough!

Enjoy!

And don't forget to R&R! It was psychologically proved that it increases the level of ideas concerning Elijah fluff!

* * *

He was watching her perplexed. She was running fever –a high one, in fact; she'd just lost her balance because of it, and yet here she was eating chocolate like her life depended on it...And she also observed him staring. So all he could do was chuckle, when she asked him whether he wanted some too.

They were so unforeseeable, these big, dark eyes of her; and then the dimples, when she smiled, as she joined him with half of one. These were the reasons he wasn't sleeping, in the first place –but he knew it was merely an excuse to bring his troubled mind some peace.

"Do you happen to have some pills for nausea?" she asked, bringing him back into the present, which was the two of them, seated at the island, all alone.

Now he had to stop. She needed him, so his contemplation simply had to end, or take a pause until later, because saying no to this was harder than to blood when he had spent a while in his coffin. So he disappeared again, returning a few seconds later with what she asked for, plus another glass of water.

"Were you having troubles sleeping for a long time?"

"Just about an hour, which happened a lot sooner than I expected."

Her answer puzzled him a little, she saw it, and he didn't know how to reply. But of course, when his mind grasped that, things were clear again. "I mean, it happens way more frequently than say, two weeks ago."

Two weeks ago, when she was freed from the which, so as not to say when he had gone into the pool with her, lately getting out of it, driven by anger, that not even today he could understand –anger towards the witch, of course.

"I guess this baby thing is happening a lot sooner than I thought." She mused.

"What do you mean?" he was still partly lost in his thoughts, but he was coming back.

"It's happening...And it scares me, well; a bit more than I thought it would." She could only promise herself to blame the fever from now on.

The cool hand made contact with her forearm again, and her eyes snapped from wherever they were directly onto his face. Vaguely she noticed the white plain shirt, rolled up sleeves and the two buttons opened at the base of his neck.

"Weren't you sleeping?" she burst out, taking in the raggedy state of his aspect.

"Not so much. Say I wasn't having the easiest night either."

She did her best not to laugh. "Yeah, you do look like you've been trying," she had to find something else to watch, because his gaping mouth would only make the situation worse for both of them.

He needed to compose himself quickly. "Well, yes, but then I heard you waking up so..."

"I didn't wake you up, didn't I?" the change in her features made him regret his choice of words.

"No, of course not; I was going to get some hours when I heard you."

Then he imagined that his answer was going to cause her to apologise again, which meant that she would feel uncomfortable, which was the opposite to his intentions. "What I meant to say was that-"

"Well don't let me keep you then. Thanks a lot, by the way."

For one single second, he wondered if he said that in his mind, and somehow simultaneously whether it was her who wasn't feeling well; because this behaviour of his, was definitely saying something else.

She dared to get up, deciding that the baby would allow her to get these last sleeping hours left until the sun came up. She was feeling quite full, actually. Then she noticed that his hand had been cooling down a spot above her wrist for almost a minute now. And of course, her attention gone, she stood up too quickly.

Her brain felt like expanding tree times inside her skull, quickly making her loose balance and sight at the exact same time. She heard his chair moving back abruptly then felt his arms securing her again. "Thanks."

"Hayley," he sighed "You're all but keeping me –I don't even require sleep."

Her answer was a groan. It was worse than before, because she felt the world around her crushing her head like would water at a thousand hundreds of many feet under –she was too dizzy to count.

When she opened her eyes, she winced, and mumbled an excuse for using him as a crutch, once again. But his answer to that, plus her wanting to move away from him, was another concerned glace, this time though, accompanied by a steady grip on her arms.

"Your fever is pretty high; I don't think you should move around this quickly, judging from this reaction to standing up."

"Maybe," she agreed, frowning at the not so bright light getting in her eyes. "I was anyway thinking about heading back to my room. I've had enough of this chocolate."

It was then when he noticed the greenish tent in her sweaty skin. In fact, she started feeling a bit under weather and stopped eating not even noticing herself. And so, she somehow got to the conclusion that eating chocolate and pregnancy fever put together don't seem to give such a nice result. And there was the fact that the pills she swallowed weren't helping at all either; or at least just yet.

Seeing her swaying while trying to get away from him, and towards the door, a switch flipped in his brain as his arms stopped her before doing any damage to her own self. "Here, let me help you."

"No, I'm good." She murmured still frowning, half-waving her hand towards him. Yet, with determination wrinkling his features, he didn't let her go off like that. "You don't look to well; at least let me help you to your room;" _Like there was anything else he could have done_...in fact there was. And yet he could feel something inside him not wanting to act on it, somehow scared that it will bring the end to this situation he now found himself drawn to. This was pretty much the twisted definition that could be in reality reduced to a few words –twisted definition he felt by far, more at peace with.

Hence, in a blink, he had the dizzy girl in his arms. She didn't argue. In his opinion, she was already asleep; leaning on him like one would with the most trusted person in their life. This was the way, and he was too scared to admit it, he wanted her to see him.

Her skin was hot to touch, and it was the fact that bothered Elijah the most; this and, of course, that she literally passed out in his arms. _It's not right the way this fever affects her._ When she heard her mumbling half a moan, that insecurity he was feeling while analyzing her physical state went on mute, while his vampire body took off and reached her room before he even knew it himself –and he'd been in his body for more than a thousand of years.

He opened her door, then closed it. She had her on the bed still unconscious, while he turned on the lamp on her bedside. Before taking his hand off her to go open the window, a weak hand clasped over his fingers, breaking the instinct-mode he found himself trapped into. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he moved his eyes upon her.

"Please don't go." came a muffled voice. Her face was twisted with a frown. _She was in pain._ And it was tearing him apart.

"I never would have," he heard his own hoarse voice say, while he sat down on the bed, taking her hand between his. "But I believe that opening the window will help you."

"Forget the window," her eyes were opened now, glassy, almost black pools drowning into his ones.

Oh, how he wanted to stare into her soul like this, for hours and only let himself get lost in there. He couldn't deny it. That's all he wanted, the fulfilment he'd never felt in his long life –that fulfilment it didn't take a fool to tell what it was. He knew, or course, what he was feeling, but he also knew that acting on these feelings would bring to the ground the unsteady 'house' he'd managed to build for his own brother, him and Rebekah.

"Would you rather I did something else?" But it wasn't himself speaking. Because he would have stood up, opened the window, and then proceed with a plan that would help her to bring down the fever and be as casual and unaffected as possible. Yet so his diplomacy and trust to except from his brother went all at once to the ground.

"Just don't go, please. You stay..." her hand gripped his wrist and pulled him over, and he let her guide him next to her. She wasn't exactly aware of it. It was more like a very vivid dream, played by her mind to give herself some comfort for the agony her body was put through. He on the other hand, was absolutely frozen; his mind, and his body, which he found being almost thrown over hers, so gracefully, so unlikely for the state of his brain.

Yet even if he barely heard a screaming voice in his head to stop her, for sticking with the plan and support his brother throughout this situation, he allowed her to pin him down on the bed under her weight as she nestled on the top of his right shoulder.

He was silent; perplexed. Yes; he was lost in this, but he felt for the first time in a long while, inside his body a flicker of contentment coming in and out of consciousness...

And he thought they went too far when he got with her in that pool...

A content, this time, moan occurred next to his ear, that caused his body to finally settled down, not tense anymore –if it had been tensed up at all, while his own noble mind still somehow tried to impose him differently; So he locked his right arm around her shoulders, the other one under his head, allowing his eyes to fall shut, to take in the bliss that came with holding her.

He wasn't exactly sure if he'd fell asleep at all, because having her in his arms, sleeping so peacefully even under this wearing off fever – as he claimed it to be, having just pressed his cheek to her forehead; seemed to be an opportunity to turn his long desired fantasies into reality. And it would be such a pity to sleep throughout them.

His eyes were open now, his breathing even. He did fall asleep, actually –he was completely aware of it. Through the heavy-wooden framed window he could see the morning, approaching in heavy steps from the horizon, past the dark tree tops, through a lighter shade of the sky, blending almost unseably with the darker one that prevailed the vast sky.

The dawn was to crack soon, and the night will end, along with a familiar, fulfilment-like sensation burning through his whole body. Such sensations, that he somehow expected to trigger in his instinctive brain a need to move, to shake off the mostly painful surplus, then settle into contentment. But no; Elijah was at peace. He knew that what he'd felt was a different form of happiness because Hayley needed him and he had just satisfied her wish, by holding her the whole time.

Somewhere during these few hours, he pulled a sheet over their bodies, because Hayley was gripping his side tighter. But it was subconsciously, for now he couldn't recall the actual action. Since he was aware of it, a smile tugged at his lips. He was caring for her even in his sleep. And because of it, they were even now still snuggling together under a blanket of warmth, legs intertwined.

Elijah sighed. _Why did it have to end?_ After all, he had no choice but to fail to keep the promise he'd made to his brother, because he hadn't have the strength to deny Hayley.

* * *

A/N: OK fellas. That's it, for now. My head is full with ideas, and the story is meant to last for a few more chapters, if not even more than that. We shall see!

Here comes the embarrassing morning after for Hayley! If you ask me, it would be worth it! Can you imagine, though, how awkward is it gonna be for her? Surely, Elijah will do his best in not letting her torment herself over this matter -of course, if he finds the power to face the situation as well.

See you as soon as possible!

PS: I'd love to hear your opinion concerning this!


	3. Chapter 3

Hello again, I want to apologize for not posting it any sooner but sometimes life just wants me to do something else. And also, i address this big THANKYOU to everyone who faved/followed/reviewd my little fantasy. You really are making my day brighter and smile grow wider!

Anyways, here's what happens when Hayley finally wakes up. How will Elijah handle her? Read and find out!

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The room was still floating in darkness, as peacefully as the girl sleeping over his chest –as if he wasn't a monster, a lost soul in the land of darkness. It was surprising him the way she didn't feel threatened in his presence, compared to what she felt next to Klaus. Yes, he was looking down on himself, because of what he did. Then Hayley shifted on the top of him, moving her head closer to his heart.

_This is meant to end soon_, said a voice inside his head, as his vampire sight caught another change in light outside. There was now a tent of cold lemon-yellow –that tent of morning light he's seen for centuries before every dawn. Something in his mind was getting nostalgic about this light.

During his long life, this part of the day was the most promising one, that part that assured him unconsciously that the one about to begin might be the reason he'd been doomed to never dying. OR that he would finally be at peace with his damaged family. One day not to worry about his younger brothers.

But now, he didn't want a new day to begin. For it implied waking the tired woman blessed –if not damned; to carry the child of his brother, and therefore become a part of their twisted family. He found himself feeling sorry for her and maybe even guilty.

It wasn't sure in his mind if this felt so because of his place in the family as oldest brother, or because of his status as man that found in this woman a beautiful company, and yet that was unable to put an end to this craze for her own wellbeing.

Moreover, beginning a new day would also consist in dealing with their situation. He was aware, despite an unconscious denial or conscious postponement in accepting that, when she dragged him next to her, she was under the influence of a fever.

It was this source of insecurity running through his bones that was the foremost reason. What if, under normal circumstances she wouldn't have done it? What if there wasn't any reason in her soul to want him to hold her close? Of all of them, he was for sure the one to have her trust the most, but would this still stand if she wasn't forced to let them protect her?

Why was he all of a sudden concerned regarding this situation in such a manner? After all this time when he prohibited himself from wondering this far, for his own mental saneness...It was now all falling apart, some force dragging him in a land of anxiety, and chaining him to its oldest wall.

Elijah couldn't put a finger onto his own feeling, which in the past half a minute had gone from sheer contentment, to thoughtless discomfort.

_From such realms it was little chance to escape_, he mused inside his head. Yet the key was her, and he now had to throw it away...

He's always been so melodramatic. He was going to give himself a headache if he didn't stop this. Things had to be done, in order not to allow the situation to become worse than it already was, so he better started acting on it.

There was plenty of time to torment himself over those hours, but he could do it without having on his conscience a further factor that embarrassed Hayley , which was if not Klaus, then Rebekah, who was going to be up sooner or later.

He could only be grateful for his perfect memory in the following hours, or days, or maybe years. He closed his eyes and drew some air in, as well as everything surrounding him: the smell of her hair, her weight pinning him down, the intoxicating heat resulting in their physical contact.

He was aware, again, that his mind was going too far. Yet what he did –choosing to please her over his brother, in Elijah's mind was the last gate to the happiness he could achieve since he had the chance to get to know Hayley. But there was more to unlock until he might feel the way he dreams, and do what he fantasies about.

With that arm pressing her to his chest, he slowly begun shaking her skinny frame. For one instant he believed it would require more than just a shake, but then he heard her groan and move even closer to his soul.

_Why is this torture meant to be so sweet?_

"Hayley," he begun, voice deep and hoarse. But after that he didn't know what to say. He was aware that she didn't know where she was sleeping, so adding something like _'I'm sorry to wake you up but if someone finds us...'_ or anything similar could be another factor in embarrassing her. He could only hope that it had been enough and the rest of it will come from her own will.

Breaking through the thick wall of consciousness was the nastiest thing when waking up. It was that part that you could be sleeping as well as on another planet, because for you it feels the same –it's always the same. Hayley's eyes felt numb, and her throat was dry. And if this wasn't enough, she could literally feel her own sinuses burning beyond her skin and skull.

She registered the warmth her body was bathed in, and it was the only detail that assured her that everything was perfect. Nothing else was important enough for her to get past that wall and back into the light.

"Hayley," she eventually heard again."

She recognized the voice –how could she not? And yet, not even the kind Elijah could remove her from her own little world of perfection that had anyway a spot waiting for this knight keeping her sane in this world doomed to despair. But now, her head felt heavy with pain, and nothing –absolutely nothing could make her lift her head of this...unusually hard pillow.

This was one crack in that wall.

When her mind registered this further element in her surrounding, many others followed suit.

A regular thud could be felt coming from under her ear, which was followed by a melodious voice, telling her that she needed to wake up, which was somehow, and she feared to admit, coming from the same place as the powerful beating. This was the second crack.

Then a warm hand brushed through her hair, moving it away from her face and this was the third crack.

Her eyes shot open, and her body moved of its own accord in a straight position, despite its protesting reaction. Now it didn't matter that her eyes were numb, or brain still trying to reach its normal working speed. It took her just a fraction of a second to put the facts together and remember what happened when he had bought her to her room last night.

They were both silent. She was looking at him, a deadpan instead of her serene smile, eyes almost unfocused yet scanning over and over the apparent relaxed figure longed on her bed, not anymore covered with the sheet that was on her shoulders.

The only different aspect was that Elijah was all but relaxed.

As silence was the only medium of speaking between the two of them, Hayley refused to look exactly into his eyes. Her face was bright red, this time with embarrassment and not fever. When in her clouded mind she found no possible explanation, her body went on automate mode, and she dared to get up, and remove herself from his presence.

She wanted to disappear, to hide under a rock and stay there until everything would have turned into dust... along with her and these memories.

But that same warm hand clasped over her wrist and stopped her in her tracks, breaking the spell set over her thoughts as well. There was silence in her mind, her eyes following along his body as Elijah stood up from her bed as well.

The carving in the pillow, made after his head was the only clue she needed to gather that she had been sleeping on the top of him the whole time.

_Couldn't there be a lightning hitting me right now so I won't have to face this?_

But of course it couldn't.

"Hayley, don't g –"

"I'm sorry." She was still brighter than any red thing you could come up with, and speaking in a flat, quickened manner. "I really need to get some air." She added, not even looking at him now, and she stood up going for the door.

Before she could reach the handle, a big frame blocked her from escaping for her rock to hide under. She was staring at the wrinkled white material stretched over his clavicles –spot she only hoped she hadn't drooled over; and bit her lower lip. Even now, she couldn't stop looking at the well built body, as if there wasn't any messy –two buttons open; shirt.

"Hayley, don't g –"

"I'm sorry." She was still brighter than any red thing you could come up with, and speaking in a flat, quickened manner. "I really need to get some air." She added, not even looking at him now, and she stood up going for the door.

Before she could reach the handle, a big frame blocked her from escaping for her rock to hide under. She was staring at the wrinkled white material stretched over his clavicles –spot she only hoped she hadn't drooled over; and bit her lower lip. Even now, she couldn't stop looking at the well built body, as if there wasn't any messy –two buttons open; shirt.

"Hayley, please look at me," his voice was deep, fain English accent barely reaching through the years spent surrounded by Americans. But his voice was also stern, and she her mind was crying now that because of her feverish action, the only person she could talk to, was going to be very furious with her, and more than sure turn her away.

But his voice was stern only to hide the amusement he found in her behaviour. He knew he shouldn't let it pass through, for it will make their situation even worse –for her, at least than it already was. For him, it was what he wanted, and being forced next to her was more than he could ask for.

He had no clue though, that from her point of view, he was thought to have been forced into this, against his will, and now he was expecting his apologies. Of course she'd gone too far.

"I'm sorry –" she tried again, on the spot occurring to her the reason why he didn't left in fact, say, when she was asleep.

"Hayley..."he stopped her, this time voice as soft as possible.

Could there be a chance that he also enjoyed these hours, cause there wasn't any aspect of this interaction she hadn't enjoyed. But denying it, forcing her mind to focus onto the darker side of the situation was what she had to do now. There was the rest of her life to mourn over not getting to do it again, and twisting it on every fantasy possible.

It was the first time to be grateful for the fever, from two points of view. On one side, she could blame the fever, that she didn't remember anything after she passed out in his arms, but on the other side, she was grateful –quite the best fever she's eve had; because now she remembered the hotness in the air as she gripped his firm wrist and pulled him almost over her.

He was studying her face mesmerized, by her power to loose –or escape in her thoughts under such circumstances. Her round face, tensed jaw and unfocused –yet shining eyes. He could only wonder what was occurring behind those thick leashes that now closed over her orbs.

He had to admit, he was relieved that he'd found the strength to stop her from leaving, for going after her it would have been impossible after just letting her go, while trying to speak to her later would eventually only resulted in getting her leave the room as soon as he would have stepped in.

"Please, look at me," he tried again, frowning when not even this was convincing enough. With determination, he moved his hand to her chin, lifting it so as her eyes would be aligned with his. It was pleasing to sense only half of the resistance he knew she could muster.

"Despite what is probably going through your head, I have to assure you that the situation isn't as bad as you believe."

Swallowing air, her face moved up of her own accord, big, hesitating eyes searching in his for proof that he was speaking the truth.

Her mouth gaped, when his eyes were as clear and she dared to think, loving –or better put, accepting, as they were in the first morning after his return.

"I _still_ am sorry," she stressed, a tad more relaxed in her speaking.

"There's no reason to apologize," he was on the brink to add that she had needed his company last night, but then he decided not to destroy the visual contact he had finally managed to get from her.

* * *

Ok, that's it for now. I will post the next part as soon as I have it written.

Hope you liked it! R&R. Hearing your thoughts is what assure me that I'm going in the right direction with the story!


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